Skye knew that Jemma wasn't supposed to be in their place today, but she couldn't stand it in her house any longer. She had homework to do and she knew that if she stayed here, Ward would eventually show up. He had been more and more on her case recently about always wandering off and never hanging out with him anymore. He had, of course, apologized for the fit he threw after the soccer game and the bruise he had inflicted, which had now faded, so that Jemma could stop worrying.

She had promised at the end of the day a few days ago that she would try and stop hanging around with Ward and his friends. Even Jemma knew it was bad and she had never even been around Ward before, so that told Skye that something did, in fact, need to change. She needed to make a change…she just hadn't got around to telling him yet.

So of course to avoid that entire conversation, she had packed up her book bag and took the short bike ride to the beach access and walked the twenty minutes down the beach to the wall of rocks. She needed a peaceful place where she could be left alone to study, especially since she had tests coming up and she had been neglecting them, opting instead to spend the majority of her time with the mermaid. Skye found she couldn't help it though.

She had even tried to bring her homework with her on occasion, but that never worked out because she always ended up staring at Jemma now or petting down her scales or drawing her or talking to her. She was always too distracted. She would have to catch up today.

The bag went over the wall, and then Skye clambered over, landing back on the sand lightly and took up her bag, walking to the shore when she stopped. There, at the edge of the water was a rock tower. It looked a little less elegant than the ones Jemma normally made but perhaps that's because she had been excited. Skye hadn't thought she could come today, but was now exceedingly happy that apparently she had.

Her bag was on the ground in an instant and Skye was rushing to the water line, "Jems?! I thought you weren't coming today?"

Bobbi's heart was thumping in her chest when she heard the human girl's call. She'd planned ahead and made sure Jemma was busy with odd jobs today so she could confront her "friend", but she wasn't so sure now. Technically she was breaking a law too, but she had to do something. She knew she wouldn't be able to convince Jemma not to come here, so maybe she could scare away the human girl.

That was easier said than done, though, as Bobbi was terrified. Like Jemma had felt at first, her instincts were screaming at her to swim away. She let the image of the human's hand on her sister's tail and the way she called her Jems fuel her to move forward.

She wasn't as slow and smooth as Jemma was in greeting, she sank under the water and practically burst out of it again as close to shore as she could manage, a glare on her face already.

"So you're the one that's going to get Jemma killed." She practically spit, trying to start off strong. If everything she'd heard about humans was true, she'd need to do a grand job to scare her off.

"Shit!"

It was a surprise, to say the least. Jemma was certainly a lot more graceful and quiet and a whole lot of other things that Skye had been expecting. She sure hadn't been expecting this, and so when the strange mermaid came up out of the water practically spitting fire, Skye jumped back. She had stumbled in the sand and fallen right onto her ass.

"Woah, what the hell?! Who are you?! Get Jemma ki—" She couldn't even finish the sentence. The thought was absurd, beyond ridiculous to her. Skye was careful with Jemma. No one knew where they met or that she was even meeting with anyone at all and certainly no one knew she was a mermaid. Skye had been careful. Exceedingly so and suddenly the frontal assault made sense.

"You must be Bobbi?" Skye scrambled up out of the sand, fists clenched and jaw tight, "What's your problem? I'm not going to hurt her, we're friends!"

"Friends?!" Bobbi almost laughed, the suggestion was almost hilarious to her after everything she'd seen. She was definitely uncomfortable with how quick this person was to snap back, she definitely didn't trust her with Jemma or even with herself, she made sure not to move up onto the sand like Jemma had.
She settled for a scoff, all ready to fire everything she'd been angry about at the human.

"It looked like you wanted to be a lot more than just friends to me." She growled protectively. Letting Jemma partner with someone from the pod was one thing, something Bobbi would even encourage, but a human? No. "Do you even know what you've been doing? Friends don't touch each other's tails like that, it's reserved for lifelong partners that love and care for each other. You basically stated that you'd love her forever and she agreed to it, that's what you two did." She practically yelled, not knowing for sure if Jemma had actually told this person what it meant. It looked like the human was about to open her mouth to speak again, but Bobbi wasn't through.

"And would a friend endanger her like this?! Anyone could stop by here or find out, just like I did. Do you even know what people could do to her? They could put her in a cage, dissect her, kill her..." Bobbi was going on and on about the horror stories from their own and other pods, and she tried her best not to actually think about Jemma in those situations.

"It's not even just humans! You're lucky it was me who found out and not someone else, all the things Jemma has done here with you are enough to get her banished by her own pod! Why would you put a friend into so much danger?!" When Bobbi finally finished getting everything off her back, it was almost difficult to keep tears out of her eyes. She was scared, so scared that something would happen to her sister because of this one human.

All the yelling and all the new information was rattling around Skye's head like cannon balls and it was giving her a headache and causing a lot more things to ache too. All she could think of was excuses. No one came to this part of the beach and Bobbi had only found them obviously because she had been watching them. She had followed Jemma here. As far as the touching, Skye couldn't say that she didn't like it. She thought Jemma was wonderful but it seemed to be a much more sacred sort of thing than the mermaid had told her. It made Skye feel special and embarrassed all at once.

She would be lying if she told Bobbi that she didn't want to be more than friends…she did, but that was something she would either have to get over or talk to Jemma about. She knew that Jemma wasn't allowed to talk to humans but she had no idea that the rules against her were stacked so high and were so serious. By the end of Bobbi's speech, Skye wasn't sure what to say. She was just taking it all in, still standing there, fists and jaw clenched.

All she could think to say was that she wasn't a bad human. She really did like Jemma and they really were friends. She felt it was Jemma's choice if she wanted to talk to her or not or let Skye touch her tail…but she wondered what Jemma thought. Jemma had grabbed her hand to put on her so Skye was pretty sure she didn't awkwardly force anything. She just didn't know where her mind should start and so her mouth couldn't respond.

It finally rested on the possibilities Bobbi had mentioned. Everything about this was dangerous for Jemma, which frankly, Skye had guessed that to some degree it was, but she hadn't expected just how bad it could be not just if the humans found out, but if other mermaids than Bobbi found out.

"I-I don't want to hurt her, Bobbi. I…I'm not a bad person…" It was like she couldn't explain. Skye didn't think she could make this situation better. Bobbi seemed pretty dead set on separating them, which Skye didn't want to happen…but she had to admit, Jemma's safety did come first. Skye wanted that much at least.

"Yeah, we've heard that one before." Bobbi rolled her eyes, seemingly a lot calmer now that she had gotten everything off her chest, but still annoyed and concerned.

"Just leave her alone before something bad happens and you regret everything." Bobbi gave one last warning before diving back into the water, feeling a lot more satisfied with herself. She knew she'd rattled and jolted the human quite a bit, she was counting on it. Now all she had to do was convince Jemma that it would be a good thing for them never to see each other again, though she wasn't sure she was quite prepared for that challenge.

Skye stood there for a long time just watching the water after Bobbi left, not sure what to do. She had wanted a peaceful day, not all of this. Things had gone from decent to a shit pile so fast Skye didn't think she could handle it. She was mad, she was upset, she was everything in-between. She hated to think that Bobbi had made good points…but she had.

Skye knew that people couldn't handle knowing that there were mermaids. She just happened to be some sort of miracle exception. Anyone could take too long of a walk on the beach and find them. One of Jemma's other pod members could follow her. Anything. Anything could happen.

She lashed her foot out and kicked down the rock tower. It hadn't been right anyway. It hadn't been Jemma's. It was false, this whole situation she had gotten herself into was false. It was a fantasy and it had played out as far, apparently, as it could go. Skye wasn't sure how she thought any of this could have ended, probably because she didn't think it could have ended so soon.

Having known Jemma nearly a month didn't seem like long enough at all. They had just gotten started…but Skye didn't want to put her in danger. It wouldn't be fair. Jemma was the one doing all the risking and she couldn't let her do that anymore.

Skye didn't notice she was crying until her cheeks were wet and her chest heaved. She wiped off her face bitterly, shoving her sleeve across her eyes and nose to get it to go away. This would be best for Jemma. Now she could get back to her old life and not be in danger. She could meet a fun curious merperson like herself and everything would work out…and Skye…Skye could go back to hanging out with Ward.

The thought wasn't very comforting, but Skye picked up her book bag anyway and walked back towards the rock wall. The safe space was gone and she didn't want to stay anymore. It would only make what she had to decide to do all that much harder, so when she flung her bag over the wall and scrambled up the rocks…she was doing it for the last time. Jemma would be better off without her. Skye couldn't argue with Bobbi on that.

Skye was just late. She had gotten held up at school or at home or something, that was all. Skye never failed to show up, especially when they'd planned to meet in advance like this, but as the sun gradually became less and less high, Jemma's mood fell with it. She finally resigned at sunset when Skye hadn't shown up and she'd waited all day at the beach.

Jemma had been so excited, she'd found more sea glass for Skye and wanted to give it to her, and she wanted to hear the next chapter of The Little Mermaid. She wanted Skye to touch her scales and smile and they could talk about whatever they wanted. But Skye wasn't there. Jemma left the stone tower she'd made that morning to let Skye know that she had been here if she did show up, but she didn't know what else to do and it was time to go home.

Everyone was acting weird around her, like they all knew how depressed she was, but no one knew why. Everyone in the pod kept their eyes down, as was customary for someone who was upset with the intent of making one feel privacy, though it didn't really work for Jemma. It still felt like there was constantly a pair of eyes on her, 24/7.

Jemma had bad dreams all night long, sometimes jerking awake and wondering if Skye was alright. Maybe she had been hurt somehow, and that's why she wasn't there. Jemma simply had no clue, so she went back with her sea glass again the next morning and built a second tower next to the first.

She waited all day, just like the day before, and every hour that passed made her more and more anxious and depressed. Either something was seriously wrong with Skye or she had somehow finally come to the conclusion that she didn't want to waste any time on a friend that didn't even know her culture. Both made her heart ache in different ways, and Jemma dumped the colorful stones into a small pile between the two towers and swam home, feeling more beaten down and rejected than she ever had before.

It had been four days. Well, technically three and a half. It felt weird for Skye to not be at the beach right now, while the sun was high. Instead she was in the dark room, going through Jemma's camera and trying to develop the film. All the pictures looked really great and interesting so far and Skye couldn't wait to see how they turned out and show Jemma…except she couldn't, because she wasn't supposed to be seeing Jemma anymore.

It had been three and a half days since Skye had seen her, which was the longest that they had gone without seeing each other since the mermaid saved her a month ago. Life seemed dull the past few days, less colorful. Skye didn't really have anything to look forward to, at least not after she developed the pictures.

At least once they were ready, she could stare at them all night too instead of just the literally hundred or so drawings and sketches she had done of Jemma. They were so good, she realized. They had progressively gotten more and more perfect, but she could only look at them for a few minutes before she got angry or sad or frustrated. They weren't right. They weren't perfect. They weren't Jemma.

And Ward…Ward had been exceptionally more annoying than usual, but Skye hadn't denied him a hangout session yet because if she did…then she wouldn't have any friends left. She would be utterly alone on this stupid island all by herself and she couldn't handle that. So some level of douche needed to be tolerated. She was actually supposed to go with him to walk around his dad's pathetic excuse for a marine park.

"Knockoff Sea World more like…" Skye snorted to herself as she chuckled in the darkroom, laying another one of the pictures down in the revealing solution. Jemma had always laughed at her jokes, even when Skye had to explain why they were funny. It would get easier though, she assumed. Or that's what people said when you lost someone. That's sort of what it felt like…it hadn't really felt like a choice…

What had it been, five days now? It had been five days since Skye just stopped showing up, and every day without an explanation of any kind made Jemma's heart crack a little more. Why didn't she come any more? Why had she just seemingly disappeared off of the face of the earth...or even worse, onto land?
Jemma left the rock towers out every day, and little collections of sea glass littered the sand as well. Jemma just didn't get it. Had she done something wrong? No matter how hard Jemma thought about it, she just couldn't find any reason that made any sense of this.

Everyone in the pod noticed her sudden depression, but no one asked about it, as it wasn't polite. Bobbi was particularly watchful, though, and even though it was better knowing Jemma wasn't talking to the human- she had followed her to check- she still didn't like the effect it was having on her sister. She needed her to stop going to that beach, it still wasn't safe and she needed to get over her brief infatuation with the human world.

Bobbi intended to bring this topic up when they were alone, so she planned another mapping trip, but in another direction.

Jemma didn't disagree, it wasn't like she could spend the time with Skye instead, so she didn't argue when Bobbi told her what was happening, and she almost came to quietly. Not a comment at all, just a nod to acknowledge it.

"Jemma, I think you should stop going back to that beach. It isn't safe." They'd gotten thirty miles east before either of them spoke, and when Bobbi finally did, Jemma stopped right where she was. How would Bobbi have known about the beach, and how would she have known that now was the time for Jemma to stop? Jemma was smart, and suddenly it all clicked. Bobbi was the one that had told her she had a job the day after she last saw Skye, and she apparently knew the location of the beach.

"What did you do?" Jemma asked immediately upon figuring it out, swimming in front of Bobbi and grabbing her arm with a firm hand and stiff jaw.

"I didn't do anything you shouldn't have done already, Jemma. Seeing her wasn't safe for you or the pod, eventually you would have-"

"Bobbi!" Jemma was furious, and she had a right to be. It all made sense now, all of this was because of her sister and her stupid hate for humans, even though she'd never actually met one herself up until recently, and Jemma was guessing that Skye wasn't the one being bad.

"What did you say to Skye?!" Jemma wasn't kidding around, she didn't even let Bobbi speak. Every time she opened her mouth to reply or try to redeem herself, Jemma's glare or words cut her off.

"Whether you like it or not, Skye is just as much my family as you are, it doesn't matter to me if she doesn't have a stupid tail." Jemma snapped, and shot off in the opposite direction, back towards the beach. She would wait there all night if she had to, all week, all month. She wasn't going to leave until she saw Skye and fixed whatever Bobbi had done.

Five days had been enough. Skye was done. She couldn't do it anymore…or at least, not right now. It was dark out but the sky was clear and the moon was close to full so even when she tossed her flashlight over the rocks, Skye had enough to see by to climb over. She barely made it. She slid down the first time, unable to keep her grip. Her body ached, and for good reason. The wind was chilly and practically constant at night so she was thankful at least that she had dressed somewhat appropriately, even if it wasn't for the same reason.

By the time she did manage to climb over, she had to slide gently down the other side. Her hoodie rode up a little bit in the back, causing the rock to scrape her back, which was already in shitty shape after what had happened a little bit ago. Once down, she picked the flashlight back up, expecting the empty beach she had missed. Even if Jemma wasn't here she just needed to get away for a while; however, when she pointed the light towards the shore she saw all the little towers and the sea glass.

The sight of it made her want to cry and she was already so tired and so fed up with this that she did. She dropped to her knees in the sand and started to cry, which hurt some because her cheek was swollen and bruised. Her lip was busted and she had a cut above one of her eyebrows, and that was just her face. The rest of her body hurt but nothing hurt worse than knowing that Jemma had been coming anyway and still building her little signal towers and dropping off the smooth colorful stones for Skye.

She couldn't handle it. She couldn't handle this day. She wanted someone to be concerned for her. She wanted someone to hold her. She wanted her best friend back.

Jemma had been skulking behind the same boulder out in the water as always, willing to wait there forever, and she had been there for hours, but she hadn't expected anything so soon. She was startled when she heard a strange noise, but also confused. It sounded like Skye, but it didn't.

Jemma poked her head around the edge, just to be safe, and she could see the lone figure up on the sand. The darkness made it hard to see, but the moonlight was bright enough for Jemma to recognize her, unfortunately not bright enough for her to notice that something was wrong from so far away.

"Skye?" She called out in disbelief and excitement, swimming up to shore and pulling herself onto the sand. Skye was too far away still, too far inland, but Jemma could tell now that something was horribly wrong.

"Skye?" She asked again, still trying to pull herself a little further. Her voice cracked and Jemma could see how beat up Skye looked from here. It made her furious with whoever had done this-she already had an idea- but first and foremost she cared about Skye's wellbeing.

"Skye, come here." She begged.

The crying stopped just long enough to listen, before it started up again, almost harder than before. Of course Jemma was still here. She had probably been here all day, staying out longer and longer because Skye hadn't been coming. She was still putting herself in danger, even more so the longer she stayed and Skye immediately felt guilty both for having left and for having shown up again.

The second time Jemma said her name, she could hear she knew something was wrong. A shaky hand grabbed for the flashlight and turned it off, shoving it into the big pocket on her hoodie. When Jemma called again, she couldn't resist anymore, and she made her sore body get up off the sand, willing her legs to run the few feet down to the water before she collapsed down again next to Jemma.

She was still crying when she didn't hesitate to throw her arms around the mermaid. Skye didn't care if she was soaking wet. She had never hugged the mermaid before, but she did now and she did it tightly, her shoulders jerking with her sobs. How could she be so relieved and happy and so upset and guilty all at once? Skye wasn't sure, but she tried to focus more on the better pair of emotions. She was trying to talk, but her throat was too sore to work properly and she was having trouble getting anything past the occasional heave. Only one sentence made it out over and over again, "I'm sorry."

Jemma tried to take deep breaths to stay calm as she held Skye gently, arms wrapped around her waist and barely applying any pressure at all for fear that she would hurt her. Skye was apologizing, but for what she didn't know. Clearly something terrible had happened to her, how could Jemma be mad at at her for not showing up?

"It's all right, everything is going to be okay." Jemma comforted her and let Skye cling to her as long as she wanted, anything to make her feel better. Eventually the strange, unfamiliar, upset noises came to an end and Jemma simply held her there on the beach, quietly doing her best to make Skye feel better.

Finally, when they did part, Jemma noticed something very strange. Besides the injuries that already made Jemma worried and concerned enough, there were trails down her cheeks and small drops of water were rolling down them.

"Your eyes are leaking." She said in confusion and deep concern. Was Skye sick, too? What was going on? Jemma wiped away the water on Skye's face with her thumb and tried to avoid the places Skye was hurt.

Skye's face broke in a small smile, even though it hurt and she laughed lightly as Jemma wiped the tears away. Her voice was still strained but she nodded softly, "Yes...my eyes are leaking..." She smiled at how silly it sounded but she remembered that Jemma had never seen her do this before, and she doubted mermaids cried...at least not underwater.

"Th-they're called tears," she explained once she managed to swallow a couple of times and get her voice back to normal and her throat less dry. "People make tears when they are very sad...sometimes when they are very happy too, or very mad. It's called crying. People cry when they feel an emotion v-very strongly..." She tried to explain, "I'm not sick...I'm not dying, although it feels like it..." She mumbled the last part but shook it off and just leaned into Jemma.

"Why are you sad, Skye? What happened, why are you hurt?" Jemma didn't mean to pry or rush her, but it was important and she didn't want to dance around the subject. She was relieved Skye didn't have some disease that would kill her, but she still had all those injuries.

Jemma let Skye lean into her, and she returned it, even pulled her into another small hug. It wasn't as desperate as before, but it was still comforting, and Jemma let her hand rest against the back of Skye's neck and her fingers ran through her tangled, messy hair.

"I'm sure you can guess," Skye laughed again this time, but it was bitter, closer to a scoff. Without Jemma around, the last five days had gotten progressively worse, spending them with Ward and his friends again like she had in highschool. It was awful, and she had realized this.

"W-Ward thinks something is up...h-he wouldn't leave me alone about coming here every day and wh-when I wouldn't tell him he got mad..." One of Skye's eyebrows rose and fell. She should have expected it honestly.
"I remembered that...that you said we shouldn't be friends...so I told him that. He uhm..." She cleared her throat, "he uhm...took th-that even less well...as you can see.". Skye used her free hand that wasn't holding onto Jemma to gesture to herself, " Exhibit A present..."

No, he hadn't been too happy at all. He had hit her first when she wouldn't tell him what was going on with her, because it was none of his business. The rest had followed when she had told him to buzz off, that she wasn't going to hang out with him anymore and that she could find nicer friends than him. She didn't have to stay and let him always beat her up. Apparently she had been wrong because she almost had been too afraid to get up when he was done.
She had run only after she knew Ward had left, and she had come straight here. She couldn't go home, not looking like this mess. Her mom would panic and yell and that wasn't the sort of thing Skye wanted to listen to right now.

"And I'm sad because...because I thought-I expected you not to be here. I thought you would stop showing up if I did...I'm sad because I missed you and I probably upset you. Obviously you've been coming here every day anyway," Skye nodded towards all the rocks that littered the shore, "Bobbi said you could get into a lot of trouble...I didn't want to be the reason you got in trouble..."

Jemma sighed and held Skye closer, wishing she never had to let go. She even let her tail wrap around the both of them slightly, just for even more assurance.

"I missed you too." Jemma whispered into her best friend's hair, but she was still scared that Skye might not come back and she didn't think she could handle that. The last five days had probably been the worst of her life, even worse than when she'd been stung by that jellyfish.

"Well, you don't have to 'hang out' with Ward anymore." Jemma was trying to give Skye the positives. "And I'll always be here." She assured her. It was true. If Jemma could help it, she would always be here when Skye needed her.

"Don't listen to Bobbi, okay?" Jemma felt like she needed to add this too, if Bobbi had been the reason Skye hadn't been coming. She was probably going to give Bobbi the cold shoulder to show her what it feels like to not be able to talk to someone you care about. It was bitter, but Bobbi deserved it. "I can't deny that there are risks, but it's worth it to me if it is to you. I care about you a lot, Skye. I don't think I could just stop seeing you." Jemma squeezed her friend lightly to emphasize her point and hoped Skye felt the same way.

"Me either..." Skye breathed lightly. The last five days had been terrible for her as well and she was in like mind. She didn't think she could handle another five days like that.
Jemma really cared about her, that much was obvious, and she had just said so and it meant a lot to Skye to know that. She really cared about Jemma as well, although she thought her way might be a little different. She couldn't be sure. How would the mermaid react if she said that she liked her, and not in the way she thought?
The things Bobbi had said about tail touching lingered in her head and Skye wondered if Jemma meant those things by letting her touch her tail, but she was too tired to inquire about it now so she settled for an, "I care for you too."
She reached one hand out and gently set it on Jemma's tail, rubbing small circles because she knew Jemma liked it and hopefully it would make the both of them feel better. "Just be careful...I mean I know you are careful but...be really careful...I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Nothing is going to happen to me." Jemma promised. She was quite confident that nothing was going to happen, even if Ward was being nosy. Skye could just avoid him, and Bobbi certainly wouldn't rat her out. For the whole month Jemma had been coming here, she'd never once seen another human other than Skye, so it was highly unlikely that people would start coming.

"You'd better be right," Skye mumbled and stayed snugly rested in against Jemma. Just having her hold her made Skye feel infinitely better even though she knew these bruises were going to last a while. She was glad that Jemma had only seen the ones on her face, and not everywhere else too.

As she nestled in, Skye realized she had almost forgot. She had been leaving campus when Ward first had confronted her and tried to get her to go with him to do something again. She had been leaving the art building, the newly laminated and developed pictures Jemma had taken in her bag.

"Today wasn't all bad. I forgot, look what I pulled out of the photo lab today," Skye shifted just a little so that she could pull the series of pictures out of her satchel. It was dark, so Jemma wouldn't be able to see them well, so Skye took out her flashlight and held it up so they could look at them together.

Skye had already looked at them...cried over them, actually, but now that everything was going to be back to normal, or as normal as a mermaid and a human could get, Skye wanted to look at them with Jemma.

"You took some really great ones, Jems. You're a natural. I loved the ship! "

Jemma grinned as Skye flipped through the pictures, proud that she'd managed to take so many clear shots of the interesting things she'd wanted to show Skye and still quite amazed that it was even possible. Skye seemed so interested in them, and Jemma was happy to be able to share a piece of her life.

"You keep them." Jemma told her, only pulling away one from the back of the stack. It was the one she'd taken of Skye, sitting on the beach, smile radiating throughout the whole picture. "This is the only one I need." She smiled and carefully tucked the picture into her pouch to take back to the caves with her. Now she'd be able to have that little image of Skye whenever she felt lonely at night or wanted to see her but couldn't.

"Thanks, Jems…I bet I can use them for practice and decorations in my room," The brunette smiled and stuffed the pictures back into her bag, "The one of the reef I think will be good detail practice. I'll have to show you if I ever do it so you can compare…"

Skye knew it was getting late, and Jemma really shouldn't be out this late anyway. She wasn't sure how unsafe it was at night in the ocean but since Jemma was always gone well before dark she figured keeping her any later wouldn't be very good. She probably needed to get home herself. Her mother would already be in bed and she had a shift at the diner in the morning so Skye could easily avoid her then too. She wanted to put off that discussion as long as possible.

"I…don't really want you to leave…but shouldn't you be going back to your pod? I don't want to keep you out any later if it's dangerous for you," Skye started shifting away from the mermaid a little in the hopes to also spur herself to go home. She just wished there was a way to go with Jemma…or to take Jemma with her, so that she wouldn't have to be alone all night. She didn't really want to be.

Jemma sighed, knowing Skye was right. She shouldn't have come out here and stayed this late in the first place, but she'd had to see Skye. It was definitely worth it now, Jemma didn't want to think about Skye sitting here crying all by herself if she'd hadn't waited.

"That's probably best." Jemma nodded. The hand that had previously been wrapped around Skye and in her hair trailed downwards, playing with the necklace Jemma had made her for a few seconds before finally drawing away. "You'll come back tomorrow, right?" She asked, just to be sure.

Skye felt guilty that Jemma even had to ask, but she was the one who had disappeared for five whole days, leaving the mermaid to sit and wait at the shore by herself. She wasn't going to ever have to make her do that again. If Jemma wanted to keep coming to see her, then Skye was going to keep showing up.

She waited for Jemma's hands to leave her before she stood up and brushed the sand off of her clothes, turning back around to face the mermaid with a grin, "When the sun is high," she answered, using her free hand that didn't hold the flashlight to point up towards the sky like Jemma always did. It was her turn to use their little joke, and although she was sad that Jemma had needed to ask to be sure if she was coming, she was happy for the chance to be the one to say it for a change.

Jemma laughed, feeling silly now that she'd even asked. Whatever had been weird before was over, of course Skye was coming back. It was funny to her to see Skye talk like she did, and she finally realized why Skye sometimes laughed when she used terminology she had taught her. Once Skye was up on her feet, Jemma finally pushed back into the water and disappeared, but not before calling out "when the sun is high" in her own language.